Adjustable garment support



March 6, 1934. A G- VARA 1,949,701r

ADJUSTABLE GARMENT SUPPORT Filed June 5, 1931 I8 0,9? ,5: m INVENTOR ZM BYWW U'- PQM ATTORNEY.:`

Patented Mar. 6, 19.354A

UNITED STATES PATENT FFCE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to an adjustable garment support and more particularly to a vertically adjustable deice for supporting suits, top coats and the like while the same are being dry" cleaned.

The principal object of the invention is to permit of the most convenient inspection of each individual garment so as to readily determine which particular parts thereof require cleaning, and also to facilitate the cleaning operation itself by either permitting said cleaning operation to be performed directly at the most convenient level or to permit the cleaning operation to be effected by laying out more or less of the lower portion of the garment directly upon a dat table without disconnecting the upper part of the garment from the adjustable support, or to permit of the garment being entirely disconnected from the support and laid out in its entirety upon said table and then readily again connected with and 'nung from said support for further inspection or spo cleaning. Another object of the invention is to permit of locating the garment at any desired level of operation without excessively rapid motions to effect this result. Numerous other objects of the invention and practical solutions thereof are disclosed in detail in the herein patent speciiication wherein:

1n the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a diminutive perspective of the invention showing a typical garment suspended therefrom.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through the stationary casing and associated parts taken on line 22, Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged, vertical, transverse sections through the stationary casing and associated parts taken on correspondingly numbered lines of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal, longitudinal section through the stationary casing and associated parts taken on line 5 5, Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical, transverse section of the winding drum and associated parts and taken on line 6 6, Fig. 5.

In the following description similar characters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

My invention may be embodied in various forms and in adjustable garment supports of different constructions and the present application is therefore to be regarded merely as one organization which satisfactorily carries out the invention in practice. As here shown the same is constructed as follows:

Fastened against the ceiling or to any' other suitable stationary, horizontal surface 10, by wood screws 11 or otherwise, is a foundation plate l2. Secured, in turn, by wood screws 13 and 14, or otherwise, to the lower face of said foundation 00 plate 12 is a pair of hangers or depending brackets 15 and 16. Located between said brackets and rotatably mounted thereon is a winding drum 17, upon the periphery of which is wound a cord 18 or other similar flexible connecting means, the outer or depending free end of which terminates in an eye or ring 2i). The usual coat hanger or other suitable garment holder 2l is adapted to hold a coat or other garment 22 and is provided with the usual hook 23 at its upper central part. 70 This hook is adapted to be detachably hooked onto aforesaid ring 20 so as to support said garment 22 upon the lower end of the cord 18.

One function of the herein invention is to enable said garment 22 to be supported at any desired distance from the ceiling 10 so as to render the inspection and spot" cleaning of said garment most convenient. This is accomplished by winding up more or less of the cord 18 upon the winding drum 17. This is effected as follows: Driven coaxially into the one end of the Winding drum 17 is a stub axle or stud 24 whose outer end is journaled in the one bracket 16 and thereby enables said winding drum to be ro-tated about its axis. Coaxially mounted within the hollow interior o1 said winding drum 17 is a stationary torque shaft 25 which is journaled at one end, at 26, in said winding drum and is journaled at its opposite end in a coaxial, flanged disk or sheet metal cup 27 which is secured to said winding drum by a coaxial sleeve or cap 28 which is crimped at its inner end at 3i) into said drum and is provided at its outer end with an inturned, annular flange 31 which bears against the outer face of the flange of aforesaid cup 27 and rmly clamps the same to said winding drum. Coaxially surrounding the stationary torque shaft 25 is a helical torque spring 32 which is secured at one end, at 33, to the winding drum 17 and is secured at its other end, at 34, to the stationary 100 torque shaft 25.

Secured by a drive nt in the outer end of the torque shaft 25 is a coaxial torque stud 35 provided at its outer end with a attened or rectangular head. The latter, (see particularly Fig. 4) is 105 adapted to be forcibly urged into a slot 36 which extends horizontally and radially inward from the periphery of the one bracket 15 and which prevents rotary movement of said torque stud 35. Press Iitted onto said torque stud is a. one toothed 110 detaining collar or ratchet wheel 35 in the periphery of which is formed a single ratchet tooth 37. Pivoted at 38 upon the outer, vertical face of the cup 27 is a ratchet pawl 40. This pawl, in the position shown in Fig. 3, is in engagement with the ratchet tooth 37 of the ratchet wheel 36, and, in this position, the center of gravity of the pawl 40 is directly below its pivot 38, (or at least is so nearly directly below as to create a very small movement of force tending to rotate said pawl about its pivot 38). To express this same feature of the invention in another way, it may b-e said that when said pawl 40 is out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 36, the center of gravity of said pawl 40 is almost directly below its pivot 38, so that the turning movement of said pawl due to the force of gravity (tending to rotate it about its pivot 38) is not very large. A casing 41 is provided to make the entire device neat and attractive in appearance, to prevent the accumulation of dirt on the working parts of the mechanism, and to prevent a persons hair, etc. from becoming entangled in the rotating winding drum. 'Ihis casing is constituted of a bottom, horizontal sheet metal wall 42, vertical, longitudinal side walls 43 and vertical, transverse end walls 44. The side walls 43 extend up and embrace the opposite vertical, longitudinal faces of the foundation plate 12 and are secured thereto by wood screws 45 or otherwise. It should be noted that only two of such wood screws are necessary and that the strain imposed upon them is a shearing strain, thereby making a very simple and yet strong construction. Formed transversely in the lower horizontal face of said foundation plate 12 is a pair of grooves 39 which receive the upper edges of the end walls 44 and thereby properly locate and laterally support the same. This construction is simple and inexpensive and is, at the same time, amply strong and very effective in excluding dust and dirt.

Passing through the central part of the bottom Wall 42 is a threaded bushing 46 secured in place by a nut 47. The cord 18 of the winding drum 17 passes through this bushing, which latter acts as a guide for said cord, when it is being wound up on said winding drum, and also prevents undue cutting or laceration of said cord 18. Adjustably secured in any suitable manner to said cord is a stop or limiting collar 48 to the upper face of which is secured a resilient washer or cushioning buffer 50. This limiting collar with its buffer limits the upper position of the garment 22 and also limits the upper position of the eye or ring 20 so that when a garment hanger 21 with a garment is to be hung from said ring 20, the latter cannot be vertically above the operators reach.

Operation The operator hangs whatever garment 22 is to be inspected or cleaned and hangs the same over the usual garment holder 21 which may be either a coat hanger such as that illustrated o-r be a trouser hanger or any other suitable garment hanger. The operator then passes the hook 23 of said garment hanger through the eye 20, the latter being prevented from being beyond reach by reason of the adjustable limiting collar 48. The operator now pulls the garment down to whatever level is most convenient for the inspection or cleaning of the garment, the cord 18, unwinding from the winding drum 17 against the resilient force of the torque spring 32. When the desired level is reached, the winding drum is prevented from being effected by said torque spring 32 by reason of the engagement of the pawl 40 with the ratchet tooth 37 of the ratchet wheel 36. If desired, the operator may pull down the garment hanger 21 so far that only the upper part of the garment 22 is supported on said hanger, the rest of said garment being laid fiat upon the table 51 as shown by dotted lines in Fig. l. In this position the operator can conveniently dry clean large areas while the portions of the garment being cleaned are being temporarily supported directly upon the table 51. It is to be noted that while this cleaning process upon the lower part of said garment 22 is being carried out, the upper portion of the garment remains neatly and smoothly draped from its hanger 21. This is important affects the garment, inasmuch as the various cleaned areas which are still more or less damp from the cleaning iiuid are very easily wrinkled while in such a damp condition. If now the operator desires to elevate the garment, he can do so by iirst pulling the garment hanger 22 down a short distance to disengage the pawl 40. Thereupon he moves the garment upward, the pawl being rendered inoperative by the centrifugal force exerted radially and outward therei on. The vector angle between the pivot 38 and the center of gravity of said pawl 40 is so large that no great upward speed of the cord 18 is required to effect a disengagement of said pawl from the ratchet wheel 36. (and herein resides an important feature of the invention) the position of the ratchet wheel 36 is such that when the pawl 4D is in engagement therewith the center of gravity of said pawl is In addition to this i.'

directly (or substantially so) under the pawl i pivot 38, or, to put the mattei' in another way, the center or gravity of said pawl is almost directly under said pivot 38 when the pawl is out of engagement. Therefore, inasmuch as the pawl is concomitantly subjected to both centrifugal and gravitational force, whenever the winding drum 17 is rotating, it naturally follows that if the force of gravity tending to cause engagement of said pawl is very weak, then the centrifugal force can also be very weak before engagement of said pawl is effected. In other Words, the garment holder 21 may be moved very slowly upward without causing any locking of said pawl. Then when the operator desires said pawl 40 to lock he reduces the speed still more, i. e., until the force of inertia is overcome by the force of gravity at the locking position, and, when this occurs, the lower end of the pawl moves inwardly and locks the winding drum 17 in place. This up and down process is repeated as much as and in the particular manner desired, and until the garment has been cleaned and inspected to the operators satisfaction. He then unhooks the garment holder 21 from the ring 20 and either suspends another garment and garment hanger from said ring, or causes the cord 18 to be wound up on the winding drum until the cushioning buffer 50 of the limiting collar 48 strikes against the bushing 46 of the casing 41, this striking being effected noiselessly by reason of the resilient nature of said buffer 50. In this position of the parts, the ring 20 is up out of the way so as to not interfere with the free and unrestricted use of the room space below when the garment support is not in use.

I claim:

1. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a flexible connecting means depending therefrom and adjustable relatively thereto; and' a garment holder arranged to carry the entire weight of a garment While the latter is being operated upon and detachably secured to the lower end of said connecting means.

2. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a garment holder arranged to carry the entire Weight of a garment while the latter is being operated upon; a flexible connecting means adjustably connected at one end to said casing and at its other end to said holder; and means for limiting the adjustment between said casing and said connecting means.

3. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a flexible connecting means depending therefrom and adjustable relatively thereto; a garment holder arranged to carry the entire weight of a garment while the latter is being operated upon and detachably secured to the lower end of said connecting means; and a limiting collar secured to said nexible connecting means and adapted to limit the movement thereof relatively to said casing.

4. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a flexible connecting means depending therefrom and adjustable relatively thereto; a garment holder arranged to carry the entire weight of a garment while the latter is being operated upon and detachably secured to the lower end of said connecting means; a limiting collar secured to said ilexible connecting means and adapted to limit the movement thereof relatively to said casing; and a cushioning buffer secured to said collar.

5. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a Winding drum rotatably mounted therein; a single stationary ratchet detent arranged on said casing; a ratchet pawl pivoted on said drum and having its center of gravity located almost directly below its pivot when said pawl is out of engagement with said ratchet detent; a flexible connecting means adapted to be Wound upon said drum; and a garment holder arranged to carry the entire weight of a garment while the latter is being operated upon and attached to said connecting means.

6. An adjustable garment support adapted to permit any desired portion of a garment to be moved to an eye level position and comprising a stationary casing; a winding drum rotatably mounted therein; a single stationary ratchet detent arranged on said casing; a ratchet pawl pivoted on said drum and having its center of gravity located directly below its pivot when said paWl is in engagement with said ratchet detent; a iexible connecting means adapted to be Wound upon said drum; and a garment holder arranged to carry the entire weight of a garment while the latter is being operated upon and attached to said connecting means.

ARTHUR Gr. VARA. 

